Work Resumes on Long-Delayed Los Feliz Condo Project

Construction has resumed on an 8-year-old unfinished condominium development in an expensive section along Los Feliz Boulevard, lifting the hopes of residents that they will finally see the project completed.

Workers showed up late last week at the building, applied a coat of contemporary mauve and green trim to one wall, then left.

They returned on Monday, completing about half the exterior finish, but were gone again Tuesday, said Edmond Stephan, president of the Los Feliz Improvement Assn.

The three-story building, one of several tied up in a multimillion-dollar bankruptcy proceeding, had remained untouched for a year with an exterior of rough stucco and scaffolding standing along one wall.

In February, Los Angeles won permission from a federal bankruptcy judge to begin demolition action as a last-ditch effort to remove the eyesore.

However, Bankruptcy Judge James J. Dooley stayed the demolition until after he rules on a request by Canadian Commercial Bank to foreclose. A trial to decide that question, which is only a small part of the complex bankruptcy case of Mamian’s Hotel Hollywood Corp., is in progress.

After that trial began, builder Gary Mamian, who began the troubled Los Feliz project early in 1980, took out a building permit allowing him until April 1 to have the building ready for occupancy.

Although the work so far has been sporadic, Stephan said it appears that enough progress could be made soon to satisfy the association’s demands.